Advanced touch user interface

Abstract

The present invention is based on a touch based control of a user terminal. The touch based control may comprise a touch screen, a touch pad or other touch user interface enabling “multitouch”, where a touch sensing surface is able to recognize presence of two or more touch points. Two detected touch points on the sensing surface define end points of a line segment. Length of the line segment is determined providing basis for a first control signal and angle of the line segment compared to a reference line is determined providing basis for a second control signal. These control signals are used to control a moving object in a virtual space.

1 . A method, comprising:
 running an application in an apparatus for controlling a moving object in a virtual space, wherein the moving object moves according to a motion scheme;   defining a reference line;   detecting a first touch point on a touch interface unit;   detecting a second touch point on the touch interface unit;   determining a length of a line segment defined by the first and the second touch point;   determining an angle between the line segment defined by the first and the second touch point and the reference line;   determining at least one control signal from the length of the line segment and the angle between the line segment and the reference line; and   controlling the moving object in the virtual space according to the motion scheme and the at least one control signal.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1  further comprising, detecting the first and the second touch point, at least partly, simultaneously. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1  further comprising defining, the reference line using an edge of the touch interface unit. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1  further comprising, using the determined angle to control a direction of movement of the moving object. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1  further comprising, using the determined length to control a speed of movement of the moving object. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1  further comprising, detecting the line segment tilting right or left, and defining one of the at least one control signal for the moving object accordingly to cause the moving object to turn towards left or right. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1  further comprising, detecting that the length is below a threshold length; and causing movement of the moving object to stop. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the motion scheme includes parameters emulating physical characteristics of the moving object. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus comprising means for implementing a method according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is a mobile device. 
     
     
         11 . A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, readable by a computer and encoding instructions for executing a method according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus comprising at least one processors, at least one memory containing computer program code, wherein the at least one processors and the at least one memory are configured to cause the apparatus at least to:
 run an application that controls a moving object in a virtual space and wherein the moving object moves according to a motion scheme;   define a reference line;   detect a first touch point on a touch interface unit that is connected to the apparatus;   detect a second touch point on the touch interface unit;   determine a length of a line segment defined by the first and the second touch point;   determine an angle between the line segment defined by the first and the second touch point and the reference line;   determine at least one control signal from the length of the line segment and the angle between the line segment and the reference line; and   control the moving object in the virtual space according to the motion scheme and the at least one control signal.   
     
     
         13 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the first and the second touch point are detected, at least partly, simultaneously. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the reference line is defined using an edge of the touch interface unit. 
     
     
         15 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the determined angle is used to control a direction of movement of the moving object. 
     
     
         16 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the determined length is used to control a speed of movement of the moving object. 
     
     
         17 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory are further configured to cause the apparatus to:
 detect the line segment tilting right or left, and   define one of the at least one control signals for the moving object such that it causes the moving object to turn towards left or right according to the detected tilting.   
     
     
         18 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein detecting that the length is below a threshold length causes the movement of the moving object to stop. 
     
     
         19 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the motion scheme includes parameters emulating physical characteristics of the moving object. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored a set of computer readable instructions which, when executed by at least one processors, cause the apparatus to at least:
 run an application that controls a moving object in a virtual space and wherein the moving object moves according to a motion scheme;   define a reference line;   detect a first touch point on a touch interface unit that is connected to the apparatus;   detect a second touch point on the touch interface unit;   determine a length of a line segment defined by the first and the second touch point;   determine an angle between the line segment defined by the first and the second touch point and the reference line;   determine at least one control signal from the length of the line segment and the angle between the line segment and the reference line; and   control the moving object in the virtual space according to the motion scheme and the at least one control signal.